Suspend football in Italy for three years, Says Italy’s prime minister

Mario Monti said a suspension could 'help' the Italian game (Picture: AP)

Italy’s prime minister Mario Monti yesterday called for football in the country to be suspended for ‘two to three’ years after the latest match-fixing scanda

Mr Monti said the idea was a question he was asking ‘as someone who was passionate when football was still football’.

Lazio captain Stefano Mauri was held after a raid on Italy’s pre-Euro 2012 training camp, one of several resulting in 14 arrests on Monday.

Zenit St Petersburg defender Domenico Criscito has also been left out of the country’s 23-man squad in order to ‘clear his name’.

Monti expressed a ‘profound sadness’ after 30 homes of people connected to Serie A and Serie B, as well as the lower leagues, were searched, with Juventus coach Antonio Conte – who recently led Juventus to the Scudetto – among those questioned.

‘I wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to suspend the game for two or three years, the premier said.

‘It’s particularly sad when a world which should be an expression of the highest values – sport, youth, competition, fairness turns out to be a mass of foul play, falsehood and demagoguery.’

The latest arrests come six years after the infamous Calciopoli scandal in which Juventus were stripped of their title and relegated to Serie B.